Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Locket
by Delphicism
Summary: Set in Pre-Series Evangelion, Asuka Langley Soryu must fight for her right to be the pilot of Evangelion Unit 02. A rewrite and fully edited version of Never Back Down.ONESHOT


**Author's Note:** This is the complete and edited version of my Evangelion one shot fic. It was up about a week ago under the title never back down. It didn't recieve any reviews and I was a little worried that the story wasn't good. I read over it once more and said, "Wow, I didn't edit this enough." So I took it down and made some corrections. Hopefully now it is a little bit better.

If you would like to know more about this story please visit my website: .com. If you would like to communitce with me, I do have a forum.

Enjoy

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**The Locket**

**By: Danny Roboguy**

The second impact had nearly affected everything, but the one thing it didn't seem to change was Germany's cold seasons. Asuka Langley Soryu, sat in the front lobby of NERV research and development laboratories staring at the entrance. She was wearing her favorite yellow dress, a summer dress, on a cold winter day. She was so angry that her blood was boiling, so the cold did little to affect her. She was upset that NERV had dealt her the greatest insult she had every bore. NERV was going to try to replace her.

She had received the news from Kaji that morning and demanded to be taken to see her replacement. Since then she had been waiting inside the lobby for the past two hours. She did not pick up any of the magazines or talk to Kaji. She continued staring at the door, waiting patiently to pounce on whoever walked through. Kaji sat next to Asuka thumbing through the local newspaper for the fourth time that day. He looked away from the paper for a second to see Asuka scowling at the door. Tired of looking over the sports page for grammatical mistakes that the editors might have missed he decided to try and cheer Asuka up.

"Asuka," Kaji sighed, "it's not as bad as you think. NERV is simply going to run some tests."

"Kaji, shush!" Asuka spat.

"Asuka you have more experience and data than this guy does. I'm sure NERV will reconsider their decision."

"That's not important."

"Then what's wrong." Kaji asked. Asuka stood from her seat and turned to face Kaji her face red with rage.

"What's wrong is that they doubt me! I've done nothing but prove myself over and over to these pencil pushers here and they still think someone can do a better job than me. Now they say they've found someone who can and I want to see for myself who this godly figure they speak of is!!!"

After Asuka had finished throwing her tantrum she sat back down and resumed staring at the door. Kaji just sat there and sighed.

"Godly figure, huh?" Kaji looked as though he was giving considerable thought to the term. Asuka knew that she might be over-reacting, but there was no way that anyone could top her scores. She was perfect in nearly everything. Surely there could be no one better. Just then the door slid open and in walked the most pathetic boy Asuka had ever lay eyes on.

He was extremely thin and pale as if he had not eaten in weeks, and not to mention shorter than her. He wore a German student's uniform and his brown hair was combed in a proper fashion. Surely this could not be the person NERV intended to replace her with. Next to the boy was an older man with grey hair and sunk in eyes. The man wore the type of suit that smelled strongly of Gin and Tobacco. Asuka was about ready to look away from them until Kaji stood from his seat and began walking over to them.

"Geoff it is good to see you again." Kaji said holding out his hand. Geoff stared at the hand, but was slow to take it.

"Not near long enough." Geoff finally shook Kaji's hand and was quick to retract it.

"So is this the child." Kaji looked down at the small boy.

"Yes, allow me to introduce him. This is the young master, Drake Von Meyer."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Drake said to Kaji while nodding his head. Kaji was about to say something when Asuka burst in.

"Is this my replacement?!" Asuka spat eyeing Drake while pointing her finger at his face. "They can't be serious! He looks dead." Drake backed away from the finger and looked up at Geoff.

"Geoff, who is this Fraulein?" Drake asked.

"Fraulein!" Asuka clenched her fists. She wanted to punch Drake in the face. No one called her a little girl.

"Yes Master Drake. This is they young girl they will test you against." Geoff replied

"I see. NERV's standards of acceptance must not be very high. I understand now why they contacted me."

"Who do you think you are!?"

"Someone defiantly more qualified than you. Now could you please stop shouting and go do some knitting or something." Asuka couldn't hold herself back anymore. She reared up and kicked Drake in the stomach as hard as she could and sent him sprawling onto the floor. She tried to go after him, but Kaji held her back. Drake lay curled up in a ball clutching his stomach.

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**A Few hours later…**

One of the laboratory assistants led the two children down the hall. Asuka was on the left and Drake on the right. In the middle separating the two was a female laboratory assistant that also doubled as the facility nurse. Asuka had recently discovered that they would be keeping Asuka at the laboratory as well and test her at the same time for comparison of data. In other words it was like a sort of competition which made Asuka feel all the better. She knew that she could easily smear her competition.

Drake walking opposite to Asuka still had a sick look about him, but walked on with a straight back and face. They finally reached two doors that looked like hospital rooms.

"The two of you will be staying here tonight." The nurse explained, "After I lock the doors neither of you are allowed to leave the room." Both children nodded. Asuka turned immediately and went straight into her room, but Drake remained in the hallway for a moment touching his abdomen lightly.

"Are you alright Mr. Meyer?" The nurse asked.

"Aww, Did I hurt the little guy?" Asuka teased earning herself a disdainful look from the nurse.

"I am fine." Drake snapped his hand down to his side and turned to the nurse "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I would like something to eat. I haven't eaten anything since I left Duisburg this morning." Drake turned to Asuka, "and as for you fraulien sleep well, because tomorrow I will be sure to send you back to the kitchen you belong in."

Asuka was about ready to leap across the hall at him, but Drake had already retreated into his room and shut the door, Leaving Asuka with no choice but to do the same. Asuka retreated to her bed and lay there staring up at the ceiling. Several minutes passed and she couldn't get her mind off Drake. The very thought of him infuriated her and he had insulted her once again. She couldn't take that lying down. She had to get back at him. Then a brilliant idea came to her mind.

The nurse had yet to lock the doors. So she decided that she would sneak over and get back at the dummkopf before that nurse even knew she had even left her room. Asuka moved over to the door and opened it and looked around. There was no one in sight, so she tiptoed over to Drake's door and put her ear to it and listened. She heard the sound of running water which Asuka suspected was the shower.

She opened the door and looked in and her suspicion was confirmed once she saw the bathroom door shut. She quickly took in her surroundings. The room was identical to hers only it had a slight stench to it. A duffel bag was set up on the bed and there was a tray of food. She checked the bag first and only found a simple change of clothes in it. Nothing much she could do with that, so she just zipped the bag up. The tray of food had barely been touched, so Asuka decided she would settle for starving Drake as a means of payback. She grabbed the tray and started to tip toe out, but stopped upon seeing the most peculiar thing.

On the bedside table was a locket, not fit for any boy to wear. It had a gold chain attached to an ivory piece with a sapphire jewel encrusted in its center. It was just begging to be taken. Besides what use did that sexist pig have for such a beautiful piece of craftsman ship. Not wasting a second of her time she snatched it up and pocketed it. Asuka returned to her room leaving no trace of her ever having left.

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**The Next Morning…**

For the umpteenth time LCL filled Asuka's lungs. She never did get used to feeling of the blood smelling liquid. For a brief second you feel like you're drowning, but can suddenly breath again right afterwards. She was just glad that the researchers had decided to let her wear the plug suit. It saved her the embarrassment of having to parade herself around naked. It also gave a little bit more comfort and grip when inside then entry plug. When she performed the tests naked it was always hard to sit in the pilot's seat because the liquid made her slide around real easy and it disrupted her concentration. Then there were the men in the facility. She didn't even want to think about them.

The only problem with entry plugs is that the plugs alone are not sound proof. So she could easily hear the conversation taking place when Drake finally arrived to the test an hour late.

"Where have you been Mr. Meyer?" One of the researchers said, "Synchronization tests started an hour ago."

"I'm sorry." Drake replied, "I had a little bit of trouble this morning. I promise it won't happen again." The researcher directed Drake to get into one of the entry plugs. All that happened next was the sound of Drake's plug closing and pressurizing. Sync tests are the worst of all tests. You sat in the seat for three hours and you were not allowed to think of anything. Your mind must be completely blank the whole time and if your brain pattern got too far out of synch you had to start over agian. Asuka had failed her first few tries with her longest time in the plug being fourteen hours.

The true goal of a synch test was to try and push your sync rate as high as possible and keep it there. Asuka's highest rate thus far had been forty-seven percent, but today she was pushing for the big fifty. Suddenly an audible click sounded in the plug.

"Okay, Miss Soryu your done with the Synch test. Exit the test plug and hit the showers before proceeding to the lab for physical examinations." One of the technicians said.

Her plug depressurized and ejected the LCL. The vomiting sensation of literally puking the LCL out of her lungs did little to quail her spirit. She knew she had done well today. The test plug opened up giving Asuka as sense of fresh air, but the smell of LCL still lingered in the air.

"How did I do?" Asuka yelled out.

"You reached fifty-two percent today Miss Soryu. Well done." One of the researchers called out over the intercom. Asuka's face lit up. Not only had she reached her mark of fifty percent, but she had passed it as well. She could barely keep in her excitement.

"Oh yeah!" She screamed out victoriously. Then she saw the other test plug. She knew Drake was inside. "That's right! Fifty-Two percent! Beat that you pig!" Asuka knew Drake could hear her, and didn't even care that it could possibly mess his test up. There was no way Drake could beat her.

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**Two Hours later…**

Asuka hated physicals. That had been the next text. It was all the usual poking and prodding in uncomfortable places. She was glad they gave her a female doctor to check her over. She wouldn't dare let a male doctor touch her, but despite the fact Asuka's doctor was a woman, she still felt like the doctor had enjoyed her treatment of Asuka a little too much. The thought that she had possibly been violated made her shudder. All that was left was the blood tests. She hated those too.

She went inside one of the lab rooms. In the lab was the nurse who had escorted her and Drake to their rooms the previous night. The nurse greeted her and Asuka returned the greeting with a quaint smile. She didn't feel like saying anything. She didn't like needles. The nurse swabbed the area she planned to stick and then wrapped a tourniquet around Asuka's arm. Asuka winced waiting for the stick.

"Ow!" Asuka screamed at the nurse as the needle pierced her skin, "Be a little more careful will ya!" The nurse shot Asuka a glare.

"Don't be a baby Miss Soryu." The nurse snapped at Asuka, "It's not all that bad."

The nurse had finished drawing the last vial of blood for Asuka when Drake entered the room. It had been the first time Asuka had seen him since yesterday and quite frankly it hadn't been long enough.

"Good morning, Drake." The nurse greeted, "Are you feeling better this morning."

"Quite alright, ma'am." Drake replied in a proper manner.

"I heard you were late for the synch tests this morning. What happened?"

"Just an unfortunate mishap. I've seemed to have misplaced my mother's locket. It's an Ivory locket with a sapphire jewel on it. Have you seen it?" Drake asked the nurse. The nurse shook her head.

"I'm sorry Drake, but I haven't." The nurse replied. Drake looked at Asuka.

"And you fraulien?" Drake spat, "Have you come across it?"

"How would I know were some stupid locket is?" Asuka lied. In truth it was hidden in the back of one of the drawers in her room.

"Quite right," Drake looked away from Asuka and sighed, "How could I have expected a fraulien to know anything let alone my locket's location." Asuka stood up out of her seat.

"How much longer are you going to insult me!" Asuka shouted. The nurse grabbed Asuka's shoulder stopping her from getting closer to Drake

"Asuka calm down." The nurse said, "and Drake apologize to Asuka now."

"I'm sorry." Drake said insincerely, "Sorry that your still here and I have to look at such an ugly half breed girl." Asuka screamed out in anger and leaped out at Drake. Her hands tore at the air trying to get at him, but the nurse was now holding Asuka back.

"Security!" The nurse called out doing her best to hold Asuka back. Asuka had broken out into cursing. Drake himself had backed away and was looking on in disgust. A second later two facility guards busted into the lab and immediately restrained Asuka.

"Restrain him as well." The nurse said as she straightened herself. The guard walked over and grabbed Drake's arms. The nurse then walked up to Drake and slapped him across the face. "You should be ashamed. You have no right in speaking to Asuka that way."

"I have every right!" Drake spat. "She does not belong here!"

"You're the one who doesn't belong here!" Asuka shouted, "Eva unit 02 is mine!"

"Really! What make's you think so fraulien?" Drake struggled a little against the guard.

"You can't even perform a proper synch! Fifty two percent! Never in my life have I heard such a pathetic number."

"Like you could do any better!"

"I did! Sixteen percent better as a matter of fact!" Drake spat. Asuka didn't believe it. It couldn't be true. There was no way he had managed to get sixty-eight percent. He had not been doing the tests as long she had. There was no way he could have beaten her.

"You liar!" Asuka screamed, "Prove that you're better than me!"

"All I have to do in order to prove that is exist, Harpy!"

"Enough of this, that goes for both of you! The director shall hear of this. After the behavior you've both shown neither of you deserve the right to be a pilot." The nurse shouted. She pointed at the guard holding Asuka. "You take Miss Soryu back to her room. She is finished for today."

Asuka was dragged out of the room by the guard. She struggled against his grip because she wanted nothing more that to kill Drake Meyer now, because of him, she was going to lose everything. It just wasn't fair.

After she was brought back to the room she furiously thrashed about kicking the walls and furniture. She screamed at the top of her lungs, cursing the very existence of Drake Von Meyer. She screamed until her body couldn't take anymore and she finally collapsed in tears and cried herself to sleep. She didn't want to but during the course of her nightmares she came to accept what she was. She was a failure.

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**The Next Day…**

Asuka woke up the next morning feeling like her head was going to spilt open. Her nose was stopped up; a result of bawling her eyes out the previous night. She pulled herself up off the mattress and decided that she would take a shower to calm herself a little. She walked into the bathroom and turned the shower on. Once in she let the warm water sooth her body.

Something about water seemed to always make her feel better; like the water was washing away all the filth of her life. She finally stepped out of the shower and dried off. She threw on some clean clothes and moved over to the dresser, so to fix her hair. When she opened the drawer containing her cosmetic items she saw something that made her skin crawl. It was Drake's locket.

The locket sat there amongst the hair brushes and make up only blemished slightly by a spot of spilled make up. Asuka took the locket in her hand and wiped off the makeup. It was a queer locket, being that it belonged to such a foul person as Drake. It was one of the most beautiful pieces of jewelry that Asuka had ever seen, but it was still a testament of her failure to Drake. She wouldn't dare hold on to it any longer.

Asuka took the locket and walked out of her room and across the hall to Drake's door. She knocked on the door praying that this meeting would pass quickly. She knocked on the door twice, but no one ever answered. She knocked again only to get the same respone.

"Hey, are you in there or what!" Asuka shouted as she banged on the door again. She didn't notice Kaji walking up the hallway.

"He left this morning Asuka." Kaji said.

"Kaji?" Asuka said finally taken notice of the slouching man, "What do you mean he left this morning?"

"Geoffrey picked him up this morning. I wasn't told anymore than that." Kaji sighed as if recalling where he heard the information was of little consequence, "What are you doing out here anyway?"

"I was trying to give the dummkopf back his stupid locket."

"Locket?" Asuka held the locket out to Kaji so he could look over it. He took it in his hands and eyed it curiously. "Oh well finders keepers I guess." Kaji said as he tossed it back to Asuka.

"Please," Asuka sighed as she caught it, "I don't want it. I don't want anything that reminds me of this place."

"Well it's not you can give it too him now Asuka. Besides I think that locket would probably look better on you than that guy." Asuka didn't really like the idea of just keeping the locket, but the more she looked at it the less she liked the idea of parting with it. "Oh and the director says he wants to see you. So you might want to fix your hair before going see him."

Asuka checked her reflection in a nearby window and saw her tangled mass of hair. The sight made her cringe a little. The previous night had indeed been a tough night. Asuka pocketed the locket and walked back into her room, while Kaji waited for her impatiently in the hallway.

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**A few moments later…**

Asuka sat down in the director's office. The director, an older man with balding gray hair, sat across the table from her and Kaji. There was another person in the room with them. He was a short stout man in a lab coat and he stood in the corner looking somewhat uncomfortable. The director shuffled through a stack of papers and took one small stack papers and slid them across to Asuka.

"Those are your release papers. If would please sign at the bottom." The director said. Asuka brought the papers close and borrowed a pen from Kaji. She was slow to sign it. When she finished, she slid the paper back across the table.

"Very good." The director said. He took another sheet and slid it over, "Now this one please." Asuka took the paper.

"What's this one for?" Asuka asked out of habit.

"That establishes you as the official pilot of Evangelion Unit 02." The director replied. Asuka stopped in mid-signing. She looked up at the director with a face of shock and disbelief. The director shot back a puzzled look. "Is something wrong, Miss. Soryu?"

"What do you mean official pilot of Unit 02?" Asuka asked, "Do you mean that I'm still the pilot?"

"Yes. I fail to see the problem with that."

",but what about Drake? Didn't he have higher marks than me?" Asuka stared at the director waiting for an answer. The director sighed.

"Yes he did have higher markings, but he is not in the proper health to be representing Germany as an Evangelion pilot."

"Proper health?" Asuka was really puzzled now. That was when the doctor stepped forth.

"Yes, you see, during his physicals yesterday we discovered some malignancies" The doctor informed. Asuka was blown away. Malignancies meant cancer. It had to be some sort of a joke.

"How did you find this?" Asuka asked.

"Yesterday, during the Physical exams we found some fluid build up in Mr. Meyer's abdomen. We had some blood tests done and his blood showed high levels of bilirubin. We preformed an ultrasound and found some malignancies." The doctor continued.

"What's going to happen to him?" Asuka asked. She didn't know why she was concerned, but this was the last thing she expected.

"We preformed a more thorough background check and discovered that he has a history of pancreatic cancer in his family. We suspect that this is what the malignancies are; if so, Drake Meyer has three to five years." Asuka was dumb struck. Part of her was happy, but another part felt sad. She had kept her place as a pilot, but at what cost? Was the only reason she was still the pilot of unit 02 because her competition was losing his life to a disease he had no control over.

"Listen, Miss Soryu." The director continued, "Germany cannot afford to have an Evangelion pilot that will kill over on us. As for Mr. Meyer don't worry about him. We will have him treated with the best medical help possible." The director slid the paper closer to Asuka, "Now could you please sign." Asuka starred at the paper for a second then up at the director and back down to the paper. She took the pen in her hand and signed.

* * *

**A Few Months Later…**

They were on the way to Japan. It was a long journey that would take a few months. Asuka was just getting settled into her cabin when Kaji stuck his head in the door.

"Hey I'm going up to the mess for a bite to eat. You want anything?" Kaji asked.

"Sure. I'll eat anywhere you do, Kaji." Asuka said playfully. She liked teasing Kaji. He was just so handsome. She wished he would give her more than a passing glance though, so it disappointed her when he shrugged his shoulders and walked on

"Whatever, come on up when you're ready."

"Kaji!" Asuka shouted, "Wait for me!" Asuka started to run for the door when suddenly one of her bags fell on the floor of the cabin.

"Damn it!" She yelled. She was going to ignore it when she suddenly heard a haunting melody. It was one of the most beautiful tunes she had ever heard. She had to find the source. Asuka immediately dug through the bag looking for whatever it was making the sound. She found the source of the sound underneath one of her dresses. It was Drake's Locket. It was the first time it had ever been opened since it had come into her possession.

Asuka took the locket and looked inside. Inside was a small picture of a beautiful woman with shining dark hair and the bluest of eyes. She was smiling at a small boy in the picture with her. Asuka immediately recognized the boy. It was Drake, but he looked completely different. He didn't look hateful or sick, but instead he looked happy. The melody continued to play on giving off the sense that the picture was of a treasured memory long gone and long desired. Opposite the picture was an inscription that read: _Never Give Up_

Asuka read the words slowly. It was a simple phrase taught to children that Asuka always felt was a bit cliché, but for some reason reading the words from the locket were different. This particular phrase had a powerful meaning that just seemed to penetrate the soul. Asuka remembered just why she was going to Tokyo III. It wasn't just to fight the Angels, but because the Third Child was said to be a very talented pilot.

Asuka knew she was the best and she would prove that she was the best. Though the haunting melody stopped, it seemed to continue playing on in her head. As she remembered the time she was almost beaten by Drake Von Meyer she held on tightly to the locket and treasured its memory. She would never give up.

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Translations for German words:

Dummkopf = idiot, a stupid person

Fraulein = little girl


End file.
